The Exception (27 page)

“He’s standing right there, isn’t he?” Heather asked, knowing me better than almost anyone.

“Yup,” I said with a pop on the ‘p’.

“I totally understand. No worries!” she laughed. “Just come visit me soon, okay? I so want you to meet Brian! Just don’t judge with the mohawk, okay?”

“I won’t. Thanks for being such a good friend, Heather. And I will come visit you soon!”

I clicked the button to end the call. He was smiling this time at least, but still not saying anything.

“Well …” I began, twirling my ring around my finger.

He cocked his head to the side, giving me a half smile. “Now that is taken care of, that just leaves the other thing.”

“I’m not sure what the other thing is.”

“I believe you just told your friend …”

“Heather,” I supplied.

“Yes, Heather, that you don’t know what I am.” He took the last few steps to me quickly, his eyes daring me to move. He stood directly in front of me, looking down. “What am I, Jada?” he asked, his voice caressing my name. The way it rolled off his tongue made me shiver.

I looked down at the ring spinning. “I don’t really know.”

“Stop spinning the fucking ring.” He grabbed my hands and threw them over his shoulders. “There’s nothing to be nervous about. Now, back to what I was saying—you don’t know what I am or what to call what I am? Those are two very, very different things.” He picked me up and carried me to the kitchen, sitting me on the counter.

“I don’t know what to call it,” I said, as his hands ran up my legs. “Boyfriend is so … juvenile,” I said, widening my eyes for effect.

He shook his head, amused, as his fingertips reached the fabric of my swimsuit between my legs. “You can call me whatever you want, as long as it means that this pussy is mine.” His fingers pressed lightly over my opening. My body pressed into his hand, craving the contact.

“It’s yours, Cane,” I said, my voice raw.

“It better be.” His fingers pushed back the fabric and entered me slowly. “You’re so fucking wet, baby.”

“I can’t help it,” I said, glancing out the window at Max and Kari in the pool. “I have no control over my body when you are around.”

“That’s because it’s mine and it knows it.” He worked his fingers in and out. My breathing became jagged as my body demanded a release.

“Cane,” I drug out, trying to move to maximize contact.

“What do you want, baby?” he asked. “You’re going to have to tell me.”

“Damn you, Cane,” I said, feeling myself edge closer to the breaking point. “Make me come. Please.”

He pressed his thumb against my clit and rubbed a small circle. That was my undoing.

“Oh!” I moaned as I threw my head back and felt the rush of the orgasm wash over me. Cane grabbed the back of my head and pushed my head up, catching my mouth with his and kissing me fiercely while I endured the onslaught of feeling. The sensations from high and low hit me hard, causing me to explode on levels I didn’t know were possible. It was a chain reaction. As I came down from a crazy high, I lay my head on Cane’s chest.

“Are we having fun yet?” he asked cockily, withdrawing his hand. He licked my wetness off of his fingers, a smirk playing across his features.

I was unable to speak as what must have been an orgasmic aftershock rippled through me.

He caught my gaze in the only way Cane could. “Are you going to stick around?”

“Yeah,” I said, looking him straight in the eye. “I’ll stay a while.”

JADA

I lay in a state of bliss beneath Cane’s blankets later that evening, listening to him rummage through the refrigerator downstairs. It had been a fun, relaxing day.

I tugged the black comforter up against my chin and snuggled against the soft sheets. I drifted off for a minute, but was awakened by the bedroom door opening.

“Hey, beautiful girl,” Cane said, smiling as he sat down on the bed. “Need to rehydrate?” He tossed me a bottle of water.

“I think so. That was a workout.”

“If you had said no, you were getting another round,” he said wolfishly.

I tossed the water back to him playfully. “I’m not the least bit thirsty,” I pouted, my eyes slowly running up his chiseled torso.

He lunged across the bed and straddled me, holding my hands above my head. “Really? You better dial that shit down, woman, or I’m going to make you regret it,” he growled, running his finger down my face and chest. “That’s pretty hard to believe, though. It’s nine and you—”

My eyes shot up. “Nine? Are you serious?”

He nodded, looking confused at my outburst.

“Cane, I better go. I have Kari’s car and I’ve been here all day.”

“So?”

“I’m sure you have things to do, that’s all.” I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but I wanted to give him an out. He had gone from wanting to see me for one night to having me stay at his house. I didn’t want him to feel any pressure.

“If you leave, I will have nothing to do. But if you want to go …” He released my hands and rolled off of me.

I felt the loss of his body immediately. “I don’t,” I said softly, closing my eyes.

“Then don’t.”

“Really?”

“You say that like you’re surprised!” He laughed. “Why is that so hard to believe, Jada? I’ve spent a lot of nights at your house. Why wouldn’t I want you here?”

I looked around his room. It was decorated in all blacks and whites and it reminded me of the initial hot-and-cold Cane.
Where did all of this greyness come from?

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I just didn’t want to wear out my welcome right off the bat.”

“I like having you here. When I’ve brought women here before, I couldn’t wait to see them go. I felt like they were invading my space or something.”

I made a sour face, earning a chuckle from him.

“But really, they were never meant to be here. You, on the other hand,” he said, dipping his chin to grin at me, “I kind of like having here. I don’t know why. You just, I don’t know, seem like you belong here. With me.”

I tried not to swoon, but it was futile. “Are you sure?”

“Stay,” he whispered, pressing a searing kiss on my lips.

“Okay. Just let me make sure Kari doesn’t need her car.” I reached for my phone on the nightstand.

“She doesn’t. Max went home with her and I’m sure that pussy is willing to cart her anywhere she wants to go until you get home.”

“I like Max,” I said, falling back against the pillows. “He seems really good for my sister.”

Cane lay next to me on his side, stroking my arm lightly with his fingertips. “He is a good guy. The only person I really consider a true friend. Max isn’t from the city; he’s a country boy. A transplant. Country people are a different breed.”

“How did you meet?”

“We met when he moved here when we were twelve or so and we just hit it off. Well, I totally saved his ass and he
still
owes me for that.”

“Oh, really? What happened?” I smiled, happy to get some new insight into the two new men in my life.

“It was his first day at school. Coincidentally, it was my birthday. Anyway, he was the new kid, right? Well, if you haven’t noticed, women think Max is cute or something,” Cane rolled his eyes. “I mean, not as hot as me, but cute anyway.”

“No one ever said you were humble!”

He winked at me.

“Max’s first day was your birthday? When is that?”

“Yeah, some birthday present,” he laughed. “November 4th. Anyway, some girl at school liked him right away and her little boyfriend, or whoever he was, got mad. After school, that kid and his buddies jumped Max. They had him pinned against a wall and were talking all kinds of shit. I happened to be walking past and saw it. I essentially saved his ass.”

“Is that the same way Max would tell that story?” I asked, laughing. He was talking freely, his eyes shining. It was fun to watch.

“It better be! That’s what happened. So, because of that fateful day when I cleaned house for my man, he’s owed me.”

“You’re too much.”

Cane chuckled. “All joking aside, Max is the most loyal person I’ve ever met. He just has a different set of standards than most people. Even when your sister was being difficult, Max kept at it. I would’ve said to hell with her a long time ago.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really. Because she isn’t you,” he whispered.

I watched his face. He didn’t smile, didn’t smirk; his face was as serious as I had ever seen it and I realized how far we had come. I wondered how many people got to see this side of Cane Alexander, the sweet, disarming side of him that I had come to love.

My heart lurched in my chest as I replayed that last thought.
Do I love him? Is that what this was?

“What are you looking at me like that for? What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”

“Nothing.” I smiled shyly. “So, what do you do around here all night?”

“Well, normally I’d be working on a bid or working out. I hit the bag a lot at night. I started doing it as a kid to release some of my anger and it kind of stuck.”

“Were you a fighter or something?” The thought of Cane fighting brought back thoughts of Simon and I pushed them quickly out of my mind.

“No, not really. I was a wild kid; I’ve always liked to do things my way.”

“That’s
so
hard to imagine,” I said sarcastically.

“I know. It’s almost impossible to believe. Anyway, my dad boxed a little his whole life. I think he may have been pretty decent, but it wasn’t something he ever talked about. He had a heavy bag that hung in the garage and he got me to focus my energy on that in my teenage years. I loved it. I spent hours in the garage, working shit out in my mind by hitting the leather.”

“You talk about it like you love it.”

“Yeah, I feel really free when I’m at the bag. You can just be you. The bag doesn’t care who you are or how you feel or if it is right or wrong,” he shrugged. “It just stands in front of you and takes whatever you throw at it without judgment.”

“I don’t want to keep you from anything. If you need to work or whatever, that’s fine.”

“Hush, woman,” he said, clicking on the television and pulling me in close. “What do you like to watch?”

“Whatever you want,” I said, snuggling into his chest, thinking that it didn’t matter as long as I was next to him. “I don’t watch a lot of TV.”

“Yeah, I don’t either,” he said, shutting it off. “I think it’s a waste of time usually.”

“Time is a precious thing.”

“That it is.” He pulled me closer into him and I breathed in the scent that was Cane, a smell that was quickly making me feel at home. “Life really does just fly by. You have to reach out and take what you want or else it will be over before you know it.”

“What do you want out of life, Cane?” I felt him still so I scrambled for a better way to put it. “Where do you want to be in five years?”

He pursed his lips together, his brows furrowing. “I’m not sure,” he said, clearly mystified by my question. “Is it bad that I don’t think I’ve ever really looked that far into the future?”

“No, I guess not.”

“I’ve never thought about it before but I didn’t care. Each day was a day to get through. There was really no point in looking any farther unless it was something for work. But now that I think of it, I have been thinking ahead a little more, wondering what
we
will do a few days from now, what
we
will do next weekend. But five years is a lot different than a few days.”

He sat quietly, pondering my question. “Where do you see yourself in five years, Jada?”

“I’m not sure. I had thought I would have a home of my own, complete with a little white picket fence. I figured I would be sharing my life with someone, starting a family maybe. But obviously that got blown out of the water.”

A hint of sadness wiggled its way inside my chest. The dreams I had for my life since I was a little girl seemed so far out of reach. I was afraid I would never be able to grasp what I wanted out of life.

“You can still have that.”

“Yeah, I guess. I don’t really even know. My life has changed so much.”

“Life gets better with change.”

“Sometimes,” I said, considering his words. “But sometimes it doesn’t.”

“Look at me,” he said, smiling nervously. “I changed the way I live. And if I hadn’t, you never would have had me. Change is good.” He ran his fingers up my arm. “I didn’t plan it, but you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. Do you know that?”

“Oh, Cane,” I said, his words causing me to choke up. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”

“You could say you feel the same way,” he said, shrugging his shoulders casually, making me grin.

“I do feel that way.”

Cane wrapped one arm around my waist. “I haven’t felt this content in a long time. Probably since my dad died.”

“What was he like?”

His chest fell quickly as he blew out a breath.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”

“No. I want you to know me.” His hand stilled and cupped my waist, pressing my body against his, like he was afraid I was going to pull away. “My dad was a great dad. He was reliable, even-keeled. And he was the hardest worker I’ve ever known. He wanted me to step up at Alexander Industries—to really throw myself into it.”